Industrial production went down by 7.4% until end July 2020, compared to the same period of 2019, the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS) announced on Monday.
It explained this drop by lower production in the sectors of mechanical and electrical industry (-20.9%), textile, clothing and leather industry (-25.4%) and the construction materials, ceramics and glass industry (-19.7%).
A decline was also recorded in the wood industry (-16.7%), the paper and cardboard industry (-18.9%), the rubber and plastics industry ( -14.7%) as well as various industries (-20.6%).
However, industrial production posted a rise in the agri-food industry sector (+6.2%), following the increase recorded in the production of olive oil and the chemical industry sector (+ 1.1%).
Over a year, July’s industrial production was down by 1.4%. This is mainly due to the decrease recorded in the sectors of mechanical and electrical industry (-12.9%), textile, clothing and leather industry (-5.1%), agri-food industry (- 2.1%) and chemical industry (-25.2%).
A fall in production was also reported in the activities of wood industry (-7.7%), the paper and cardboard industry (-9.9%), rubber and plastic industry (-10.6%) and in the mining sector (-15.9%).
However, the industrial production saw a rise in the petroleum refining sector following the resumption of activity at the “STIR” refinery after almost a total shutdown last year.
